The Six
by donutsareamazing
Summary: The kingdom of Fiore's magic has been missing for almost thirty years, so how do these six teens have powers? Who took the kindom's magic and how can they get it back? AU in which the six (Lucy, Natsu, Erza, Gajeel, Gray and Laxus) have their own powers and "unlock" elemental powers. Also ALERT ALERT: very OOC characters sorry.
1. Prologue Part 1: Locked Away for Love

Blurb: The kingdom of Fiore's magic has been missing for almost thirty years, so how do these six teens have powers? Who took the kindom's magic and how can they get it back? AU in which the six (Lucy, Natsu, Erza, Gajeel, Gray and Laxus) have their own powers and "unlock" elemental powers. Also ALERT ALERT: very OOC characters sorry.

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**Prologue Part 1: Locked Away for Love**

(Twenty-Seven Years Ago)

_Layla was making dinner when it struck. A nauseating feeling, a sharp pain, like there was an empty space in her core. Like something had been taken, something had been ripped from her very body. A glass bowl slipped from the young woman's hands, the hands that instead reached up to grasp at the sides of her head, tearing at her golden locks as she doubled over in agony._

_Her magical container. Once nearly overflowing with celestial magic, the woman now felt it drain, drop after drop being squeezed out of her soul._

_"No, please no," Layla whispered, choking back bile. She stumbled over the shards of broken glass, leaving bloody footprints behind her as she raced to her ornate wardrobe. Her hands shook as she flung the doors open, scrambling for the box in the bottom left, throwing dresses and skirts in a heap at her feet. Residing in the box was something that, for her husband, she promised to give up, for her husband, she locked away for good._

_Even if it meant hurting people she cared for._

_The distressed women reached into the box, bringing out a key that hadn't seen daylight in over eight years. Tears slipped down the blonde's cheeks as she clutched it to her chest, desperately calling out her first spirit. "Please work, oh Mavis, please work."_

_Aquarius appeared faintly, flickering, allowing Layla to see the betrayed, terrified expression on the mermaid's face. The blue-haired woman shouted something urgently, but her voice was muffled, as if she was underwater. "Aquarius, I can't hear you!" Layla cried, watching as her best friend disappeared, her image blinking out of sight as she reached for her master. Layla fell to her knees in sobs, screaming for her spirit, until her breathing grew ragged and her throat grew raw. She held the key to her heart, its mark of Aquarius fading, as tears dripped silently from her eyes. The blonde haired women brought the celestial key to her lips, kissing its dull symbol, giving her friend a last goodbye._

_"I'm sorry," she whispered, her ten golden keys rusting over and fading in power._

_Layla's eyes were blank as she forced herself to her feet, staggering to turn on the TV, collapsing on the leather armchair as Magnolia News blared news of devastation all across Fiore. For hours, Layla stared at images of train wrecks, crying guild members, broken bodies splayed out on sidewalks and under collapsed structures. Reporters pasted on smiles as they explained that the king was doing everything he could to solve the problem. The problem, that's what they all referred to it as. Just something to fix, like they didn't want to speak, didn't want to face what it really was._

_Someone, some_thing_, had taken Fiore's magic._

_Trembling, Layla clicked off the television and went about her day once again. Cleaning the blood from the carpet and sweeping away the bits of glass, she pushed aside her broken heart. That sort of life was behind her now, it shouldn't matter to her anymore. Yet, she couldn't stop the final tear that escaped her eye, trailing down her cheek as the last of her magic evaporated into thin air._


	2. Prologue Part 2: Zeref's Realization

**Prologue Part 2: Zeref's Realization**

(Ten Years Ago)

_To say the least, a kingdom without magic was hard. Running a kingdom without magic was harder, that's what rulers had found out. Fiore hadn't had even a trace of magic in ten years, and everyone knew that royalty was nothing without magic, just deception. Just violence. Just empty promises until one was overthrown. Prince Zeref knew all of this, knew how hard, how unsuccessful ruling Fiore had been. He couldn't do it, at least, that's what he thought. Things were different now, what could he change? The prince, set to be crowned king the next week, had no ideas, no plans to better his kingdom._

_But on September 23rd, magic reappeared in Fiore. It wasn't for long, maybe twenty seconds. It wasn't controllable, in fact, Zeref was even a little scared. It wasn't seen by the kingdom, just the prince himself._

_How did he know it was magic, and Fiore's magic, at that? He could feel it, taste it on his tongue. It was like a breath of fresh air, like the drowsiness had been shaken from his mind. That day, Zeref didn't acquire great powers or meet a mythical creature once home to the kingdom. He didn't gain magic for himself or his people. He received only a prophecy, delivered amongst swirling onyx mist._

_The kingdom, the people, didn't know. He was about to be king, and only a foolish king would bring false hope to those he ruled. He let it sit, let it simmer in the back of his mind until it could be understood. But would it ever make sense?_

_"Six children, each two moons apart,_

_Golden in mind and clear of heart._

_A monstrous, twisted, abnormal mind,_

_In seventeen years, the six shall find._

_Tragedy, horror, trauma, fright,_

_One must endure to end this night._

_Most pure, most loyal, loved by all,_

_She will be the one to fall._

_He is much more than Satan's spawn,_

_But will you yourselves become his pawns?"_


	3. PLEASE READ THIS

**PLEASE READ IF YOU WANT TO UNDERSTAND THE STORY**

\- The six were all born in one year, each two months apart (their ages from oldest to youngest are Erza, Laxus, Natsu, Gajeel, Gray, Lucy) and now they live in a house together under Makarov

\- Everyone but Lucy was born with their power from the anime (Natsu and his fire dragon powers, Gray and his ice powers, etc.) and acquired elemental powers as they grew older

\- ERZA HAS AIR POWERS (got at age two)

\- LAXUS HAS WEATHER POWERS (got at age one)

\- NATSU HAS EARTH (STONE/ROCK) POWERS (got at age four)

\- GAJEEL HAS MINERAL (CRYSTAL/GEMSTONE) POWERS (got at age three)

\- GRAY HAS WATER POWERS (got at age four)

\- LUCY HAS NATURE (PLANT/ANIMAL) POWERS (got at age six)

\- Lucy gained her elemental power at age six, but a large part of the plot is figuring out why she wasn't born with a power (celestial wizardry)


	4. Chapter 1: Terror in her Head

Chapter 1: Terror in her Head

_Boom._

_That one noise was heard and the walls of the cave came tumbling down._

_Cracking, the rocks pinned a blonde man to the ground with an unnatural crunch._

_Crumbling, a boulder struck a teenage boy in the head, his eyes rolling backwards._

_Collapsing, rubble rained down, mangling the foot of his little sister._

_Screams were muffled by dust choking the mother's throat, filling the children's ears, blinding the father's eyes behind cracked wire frames. _

_And then it was over, blood seeping through the spaces between the rocks, the only sounds the clipped breathing of the six-year-old girl. Her eyes closed, her left foot destroyed, torn apart by jagged bits of limestone, yet she was alive… but the others?_

Lucy woke with a start.

At first she didn't know where she was, only that there was something on top of her. Just like the boulders crushing her chest years ago, it felt like it was strangling her, like she would suffocate. The sixteen-year-old sat up, shoving it off of her and watching her blankets fall to the floor of her bedroom. Blankets. It was just blankets, she was in her room, she wasn't…

She wasn't dying, like her family.

Tears of frustration welled in her eyes. Why were their terrified faces, their tormented voices so familiar? Her brother's smile, her parents' laughs, they were fading from her mind. She had forgotten so much, why did the pain have to stay?

"I'm fine, I don't need Natsu," she muttered to herself, but her eyes wandered to her door, thinking about her best friend in the neighboring room. Maybe he was awake? Should she check?

Swinging her legs to the side of her bed, Lucy stepped to the ground, lightly setting her metal foot on the hardwood floor. It had been too broken to repair, that's what the doctors said. It was a miracle that she was even alive, they said that too. She didn't ever feel like a miracle, not when she thought about that day. The way she felt a warmth in her chest before roots, actual tree roots, thrust their way through the rocks, wrapping around her body, her family's limp forms, dragging the four to the surface. She remembered seeing the sun and thinking that everything would fine, that they had survived. Little did she know that her family would never see the sun again.

The magic she received, the power unlocked in that dire time had failed her family. If it had appeared minutes before, her brother wouldn't have suffocated, blood running down his forehead, her parents wouldn't have laid motionless, covered in a layer of dust. She wouldn't have cried into her mother's still chest for hours, her own blood soaking into the soil, until Fiore police found her, wrenching away her family and whisking her to the hospital. Even though she was one of only six people in the kingdom to have magic, it wasn't all that it seemed. The one time she really needed it, it wasn't there.

Still, Lucy would be hesitant to change her past. She may have lost her first family, but now? Now she had another one and, while they'd never replace her parents and brother, she loved them just as much. They had all been through so much, had all lost people they loved and she would die for them in an instant.

"I'm just gonna go check if he's awake," Lucy told herself, shuffling to her door and tiredly rubbing her eyes. Her hand reached for the doorknob, only to have it turn for her. "Huh?" she thought before the door swung open towards her, knocking her tiny frame to the ground with a surprised gasp. And there her pink-haired best friend was, standing shocked in her doorway.

"Luce!" Natsu cried, rushing to her side. "I'm so sorry, are you okay? You're not hurt, are you? I'll go wake up Erza, don't worry, we'll take you to the hospital! Oh no, what have I done?!" The blonde giggled, resting her hand on the spiraling boy's shoulder. "Natsu, I'm fine, stop babying me," she groaned, her smile fading as she remembered what she went looking for him about. "I was just about to go see you, what's up?"

Natsu sat down next to her on the floor. "Oh, nothing really. I couldn't fall asleep, just nervous for tomorrow, I guess."

Tomorrow? Oh, she had almost forgotten about that. Their annual meeting with the king every 23rd of September. He was the only one who knew about their magic, though he didn't ever seem to really care. He even seemed a little wary of all six of them. Sometimes she wondered if he was actually trying to get back Fiore's magic. It didn't seem like he had made any improvements.

"Really? We do it every year and it's pretty normal."

"This year is…" Natsu trailed off. "This year seems different."

Lucy smiled, squeezing his arm in reassurance. "I know he's kinda scary, but I'm sure everything will be fine, Natsu, don't worry."

He grinned back, pulling her up from the ground and strolling out the door into his own room. It was their thing: random sleepovers, waking up in Natsu's room cuddled together. They were best friends, and that's pretty normal for best friends, right? Everyone made assumptions, but there was really no feelin— ok, screw it, she was completely in love with him. He wasn't an older brother, like Gajeel or Laxus or Gray. He was different, her best friend.

It had been hard transitioning into a new family, learning about her magic, not knowing why she was gifted with it at six-years-old when the others were born with theirs. Natsu had kept her grounded, let her open up and release all her bitterness and anger. She wouldn't be who she was now without him. He was the one person she felt safest with, the one person she would always go to when she was sad or scared. He was home.

Natsu poked his head around the doorway. "You comin' Luce?"

The blonde blinked, shaking herself out of her thoughts. "Yep, sorry!"

"Well, it's about time. You sure are a slowpoke today," Natsu grinned. "Wait, I almost forgot. Why were you coming to see _me_ tonight?"

Lucy hesitated, thinking about her nightmare. The fear and sorrow still ran through her mind, but Natsu didn't need more to worry about. She'd be fine, she was always fine.

"Oh, nothing really."

Maybe she could tell him tomorrow.


End file.
